Leopard people

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mobutu Sese Seko with a leopard hat on an old Zairean banknote

Leopard Society or leopard people (. French hommes Léopards ; Engl. Leopard men, leopard people or human leopards ), also Anioto (. French aniotisme, aniotique ), members will of certain secret societies in sub-Saharan Africa refers to maintain an ancestral and spirit worship, with a leopard in the center. The cult is based on the idea that a person can take possession of an animal as well as an animal of a person . The colonies of the Belgian Congo ( Beni , Stanleyville , Equateur and Marungu ), French Africa , Sierra Leone , Nigeria , the Gold Coast , Liberia , Tanganyika and Angola belong to the distribution area until the 20th century .

According to Diedrich Westermann , the Federation had its greatest expansion and importance in Sierra Leone and was also present in most of the neighboring peoples ( Tusu , Temne ); in Liberia with the Kpelle , Gola , Gbende and Gbunde .

According to their opinion, the members of the covenant transform into leopards. They believe they are leopards, as is the case with werewolves, for example . They kill people with iron or wooden leopard claws and use blood, fat and pieces of meat for magical purposes. Other devices are also associated with the magic.

Around 1,000 people were killed in the leopard murders between 1850 and 1950 . The leopard men are held responsible for at least some of these acts.

The secret societies were a big problem for the colonial powers.

The long-time dictator of the Congo, Mobutu Sese Seko , used the myth of the leopard in his self-portrayal.

Other secret societies

In addition to the leopard people, there are other secret societies in various regions of Africa in which animal transformations into lions, elephants, buffalos, monkeys or owls play a role.

literature

Ethnological literature

  • Kenneth James Beatty: Human leopards: an account of the trials of human leopards before the Special Commission Court: with a note on Sierra Leone, past and present. With a preface by Sir William Brandford Griffith. Hugh Rees, London 1915 (AMS Press, New York 1978); ( online at Internet Archive )
  • D. Burrows: The Human Leopard Society of Sierra Leone. In: Journal of the Royal African Society , Vol. 13, No. 50, January 1914, pp. 143-151
  • Paul-Ernest Joset : Les Sociétés Secrètes des Hommes-Léopards en Afrique Noire. Paris, Payot 1955 ( Bibliothèque historique . Avec 11 gravures de l'auteur et 8 photographies. Préface de Marcel Griaule ).
  • Birger Lindskog: African leopard men. (Studia ethnographica Upsaliensia, 7) Almqvist & Wiksells, Uppsala 1954.
  • Joseph Maes: Aniota-Kifwebe. Les masques des populations du Congo belge et le matériel des rites de circoncision. Anvers: De Sikkel, 1924
  • LWG Malcolm: Notes on the Religious Beliefs of the Eghāp, Central Cameroon. In: Folklore, Vol. 33, No. 4, December 1922, pp. 354-379
  • Paul-Roger Mokede: Société secrète des Anioto, hommes léopards, ches les Babali, Congo-Kinshasa. École pratique des hautes études (Paris). Université de soutenance, 1971
  • Diedrich Westermann : The Kpelle. A Negro tribe in Liberia. Göttingen 1921, p. 273

Stories and reports of experiences

  • Werner Junge: Bolahun. As a German doctor among black medicine men. German house library, Hamburg / Berlin 1950
  • Hugo Kocher: The Leopard People of Kathun . An adventurous story from the darkest of Africa. Rex, Munich 1956
  • Theo Steimen : Ekia Lilanga and the cannibals. 3rd edition, Schweizer Spiegel Verlag, Zurich 1936

Web links